Improvement in machinery for puddling iron



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No.123,860. Patented Feb. 20, 1872'.

a" i 1 a I! ,l /baw UNI ED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

VINCENT S. BLOOMHALL, OF OONSHOHOOKEN, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND ALAN WOOD, JR, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINERY FOR PUDDLING IRON, &c.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 123,860, dated February 20, 1872.

SPECIFICATION. I, VINCENT S.BL00MHALL, of Oonshohocken, county of Montgomery, State of Pennsylvania, have invented Improvements in Mechanism for Opera-ting Puddling-Tools,of which the following is a specification:

N atnre and Object of the Invention.

My invention consists of mechanism arranged upon or adjacent to a puddling-furnace, for the purpose of automatically and simultaneously operating puddling-tools upon both sides of the said furnace, and ma manner which will insure a thorough agitation and refining of the metal, all of which is fully described hereafter.

Description of the Accompanying Drawing.

Figure 1, Sheet 1,is a longitudinal sectional view of a puddling-furnace with my improvements;'Fig. 2, a plan view with the stack in section; Fig. 3, Sheet 2, a transverse vertical section on the line 1 2, Fig. 1; and Fig. 4, a perspective view of part of one side of the furnace, showing the operation of my improvements.

General Description.

A represents a puddling-furnace of any ordinary construction, of which E is the bed or bottom, 0 the roof, D the stack, and D ahorizontal continuation or enlargement of the stack directly above the furnace, and which may be supposed to contain a steam-boiler. The furnace has four working holes or doors, a, a a and (0 two upon each side, and arranged so as to be directly opposite to each other. In suitable bearings b b, secured to the roof of the furnace, turns a rockshaft, F, which extends longitudinally over the center of the furnace, and is furnished at its outer end with an arm or crank, c, by which it receives its moside of the furnace, and two upon the opposite side. Each of these vibrating bars H, as best observed in Figs. 3 and 4, is hinged or pivoted at its upper end to an arm, f, of a bentlever, J, the vertical p'ortion f of which turns in brackets g g, secured to one side of the masonry D. The arm f of each bent lever J is provided at a point close to its outer end with a pulley, h, which runs upon a semicircular guide-bar, K, secured to the masonry D, and which thus serves to support the said arm and the vibrating bar H suspended from the same. Each vibrating bar H also passes through and is guided by a slotted arm, f, of its bent lever J, the said slotted arm permitting the bar to be vibrated freely by means of the lever G, but causing it at the same time to be moved laterally by and with the lever J. The four levers J are operated simultaneously or are turned first in one direction and then in the other to the extent permitted by the semicircular guides K, by the rock-shaft F, and devices connected therewith, as I will now proceed to describe.

Each of the said levers J has at its lower end an arm, f which extends beneath the masonry D and over the roof of the furnace, and these arms at each side of the furnace are coupled together by rods i, as plainly shown in Figs. 1 and 2, so that they may be operated simultaneously by rods j, connected to arms 70 of a transverse rock-shaft, l, which extends across the roof of the furnace beneath the shaft F. The shaft 1 receives its rocking motion from rods in connected to cranks n on a transverse shaft, 12, the latter being provided with two ratchet-wheels, g, which are slowly turned by pawl levers q" connected to arms 1" of the rock-shaft F, and receiving their movement from the latter. Four puddling-tools, X, of a proper shape for thoroughly stirrin and agitating the molten metal contained in the furnace, are introduced into the latter through the doors a, a a and a and each of the said tools is hooked onto the lower end of one of through the gearing described to the lever M,

and from the latter by means of the connecting-rods e to the four bars H, H H and H which cause the four puddling-tools X to be drawn across the bed of the furnace from one side to the other, and through the mass of molten metal to be refined. At the same time the bent levers J to which the vibrating bars H are hung, will be turned gradually, but simultaneously, from one side to the other to the extent permitted by their semicircular guides K, the vibrating bars H turning with the said levers, and consequently causing the puddling-tools to assume different angles as they are drawn across the bed of the furnace, first in one direction and then in the other, so that all portions of the mass of molten metal may be reached and thoroughly agitated by means of the said tools, the action of the latter being almost precisely sii'nilar to that of the ordinary hand-tools, except that it is much more uniform and continuous, and will, therefore, tend to refine the metal more thoroughly. lVhen the mass of metal has been sufficiently agitated and begins to solidify or come to nature, the toolsX are disconnected from the operating bars, and Withdrawn from the furnace, and the motion of the rock-shaft F is stopped, the subsequent operations of separating the mass into balls, 850., being performed by tools operated by hand as usual.

The principal advantages possessed by my invention over ordinary mechanism for operating puddlin g-toolsis that by its aid a greater number of tools can be operated simultaneously, and in a manner which will insure a thorough agitation and refining of all portions of the mass of molten metal.

Claims.

1. The lever Gr receiving its motion from a rock-shaft F, and arranged to operate four puddling-tools (two upon each side of the furnace) simultaneously, substantially in the manner described.

2. The vibrating bars 11,11 ,11 and H arranged in pairs at opposite sides of the furnace, adapted for the retention and support of the puddling-tools X, and operated simultaneously by the lever G, substantially as herein described.

3. The levers J bent, as described, and turn- 

